John Boehner and Mitch McConnell’s role reversal

Boehner has become the one striking deals, while McConnell has taken a harder tack. | AP Photos

Earlier this week, Cornyn voted against the bipartisan farm bill — which McConnell supported — and he’s almost certain to vote against efforts to raise the debt ceiling. McConnell will very likely oppose raising the debt ceiling as well. Boehner, meanwhile, is working to craft a debt ceiling deal, though it’s unclear how that process will play out.

“Over here, it’s always easier when you’re in the minority,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune , the GOP Conference chairman. “Some of the stuff, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to vote for it.”

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But GOP insiders note that neither McConnell nor Cornyn pressured their Senate Republican colleagues on a range of measures, leaving rank-and-file Senate Republicans often free to vote how they saw best. That also prevents Boehner from suffering any embarrassing defeats.

Yet the differences in outlook and responsibilities — Boehner already has the majority status that McConnell desperately craves — can lead to messy political divides the leaders have long sought to avoid. There was the 2011 split over the payroll tax cut, where Boehner’s House Republicans balked at a deal backed by McConnell, leading to an embarrassing setback during the year-end session. There was the 2012 fiscal cliff deal McConnell struck on New Year’s Eve that prompted a furious backlash from conservatives in the House. McConnell later voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, which Boehner agreed to put on the floor last February.

In the fall of 2013, Boehner backed Obama on the need for U.S. military intervention in Syria, something McConnell opposed. Later in the fall, Boehner reluctantly supported a strategy favored by the right wing of his conference to wage a budget war over Obamacare as a condition for funding the government, a tactic McConnell wanted to avoid. McConnell was forced to clean up Boehner’s mess in October by cutting a deal to end a 16-day shutdown.

At the end of 2013, McConnell warned Boehner for weeks not to agree to a budget deal that would allow for discretionary spending levels to exceed the limits set forth in the 2011 Budget Control Act, and he repeated that warning in a private meeting with the House GOP Conference in November. But the budget deal that Ryan reached with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) exceeded those spending caps, prompting opposition from McConnell even though Boehner called it a “positive step” that would produce “real, lasting savings.”

Similarly, when Boehner praised the omnibus spending bill as a proposal that would rein in “out-of-control spending,” McConnell said it spent too much and promised future cuts that wouldn’t materialize.

“It did kick the can down the road on spending reductions to a future year,” McConnell said. “I’ve seen too many deals in the past that spend more now and promise to spend less later.”

McConnell gave Boehner a private warning that he would oppose the budget deal and omnibus package, GOP sources said.

Political considerations also play in heavily to some of the latest splits between the two leaders. McConnell faces a primary challenge from Matt Bevin, a businessman who is trying to tap into tea party frustration with the legislative deals and pork-laden spending bills the GOP leader has backed during his three-decade career.

Immigration legislation, for instance, is hardly a winner with the party’s base, and McConnell voted against the Senate’s bill last year and doesn’t seem eager to dive into the politically charged issue again. Boehner, though, thinks it’s in the GOP’s best interest to take on the issue, although he also strongly opposes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Still, McConnell allies say he’s not pandering to the right in order to win reelection, pointing to his vote this week in support of the farm bill. That legislation was heavily criticized by conservative groups, but McConnell has loudly touted provisions encouraging hemp cultivation for industrial use, something he says would benefit Kentucky farmers. Boehner also backed the farm bill.

“He seems to have a real spring in his step right now,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said of McConnell. “He just seems, candidly, really upbeat this year. I’ve seen him smile like I’ve not seen him smile in a long time.”